Rocks? Are we talking rocks...just big stones, or boulders that you cant see yourself picking up and moving them. Rocks make a great garden addition by breaking up themes and supporting vines and other ground covers. If boulders, then sure, you can dig down ten feet, throw the 'rocks' in and cover...awaiting the collapse when the soil wends its way down and through the rocks, leaving large gaps where moisture will surely cause the above ground to fall in. Better to remove them--use them in a garden sense. If very large stones and you don't see the future of them being used...then put them out where they be seen and put a 'for sale' sign on them. Gardeners love rocks in gardens. The sand the pool sat on is undoubtedly the kind that makes for good sand boxes for kiddies to play in; not the kind of sand you should consider for a lawn...or a garden. Beach sand, play sand is the worst kind of amendment to give to soil. You may have a great deal of it but will only give you grief if you try to use it as a fill-in for the area; better to remove it and garbage it or give it somebody who wants to make a kid's playbox. Instead buy some 'coarse' sand, or builder's sand. It has larger faces and aids in drainage. To measure the amount of soil you will need to fill in the space...(I'll assume it was a 'round' pool) Measure the diameter of the area that needs replenishment. Half that is the radius. Remember the old method of finding area of a circle; Pi r squared. For pi you can use 22/7.....or 3.1426...that's close enough So multiply 3.1426 X half the diameter (in feet) squared. then multiply that times the depth of the space IN INCHES. Then multiply that figure times 3 and divided by 1000...or move the decimal 3 places to the left. This final figure then is the number of cubic yards needed to fill in the space. For instance, lets say your pool is 12' across..the radius then be 6 feet. 3.1426 X 6 squared = 113 square feet. Multiply times the depth.....8" = 900 X 3 = 2700 divided by 1000 = 2.7 cubic yards of soil needed. Such a measure can be ordered and dumped on your driveway for moving by wheelbarrow. To buy such amount as this in bags would be much more costly. Call soil providers (located in your phone directory) for estimates of cost. Sand can be measured by the same method so if you intend to buy coarse sand as part of any mixing of soil/peat moss/sand/compost....much the same measure can be used. Compost can be bought at any garden centre or nursery...but be aware of what you are buying. The usual thing to buy for this purpose is the less expensive topsoil...top it with about 3" of compost, rake, level, overseed or put down sod. If using seed...you are encouraged to buy the best grass seed you can afford--it pays dividends. cheap grass seed will probably die the first time the summer sun hits it. A good combination grass seed for your area is 40% Kentucky Blue, 40% perennial ryegrass and 20% Creeping Red Fescue. This combo makes a good tough lawn for most weather situations.

There are many "ifs" in this situation. How large was the above ground pool and was it in the place for a long time and was it lifted in the fall, put back in the summer. What was the ground like before the pool was constructed...grass, bare ground, was it used heavily for foot traffic. The ground, if it was used as a lawn, chances are it had a reasonable amount of goodness to the soil...and grass can grow again without too much trouble. If it was bare ground, chances are it was neglected, the rain ran away from it, absorption did not happen very much and otherwise the area was more waste than grass. In this case, you will have to dig it up, add some organic matter, improve it to want to grow grass. If it was in an area where foot traffic was heavy, chances are the area of ground is heavily compacted. Again, it needs to be either aerated (by a machine) or dug up, improved and grass tried to grow. There are two methods of growing a lawn....put down sod, or seed. With seed, you should find out what type grass you have now in the outlining areas. How is that area growing. An overseeding might be thought of. Sod, while more expensive, is the fast way and it can be done NOW...you'll have a lawn that you can walk on in about two weeks. With seed, its too late....the soil temperature says seed wont germinate and you'll have to wait until spring. It can come down to how large is the area to be sodded. Sod pieces generally can be had for about $3.00 or less for ?? It depends on how large sod pieces come in your particular area....call up a sod provider and ask how much he charges and then plan on using the family car to go get it. A car's trunk can reasonably carry about 15 - 22, 25 sod pieces. Let's assume a sod piece is 2 ft by 6 feet...12 square feet. Just measure the area that needs repairing and figure how many sod pieces would be necessary....add a couple for insurance. The area should be given some new soil in any case...if you add some organic matter, dig up at least 6" - 8" down...and churn it in with a rented rototiller...use one that you can handle...don't need a big machine...as long as it can dig the tines in to start, the rest will follow. If you use peat moss to amend your soil, be sure to wet it first with hot water...peat moss will absorb warm water but will reject cold water; so the mixing in with the soil will be much easier if you sprinkle with hot water the peat before adding. If you use hay or straw as an amendment, be sure its OLD --new straw (hay) has seeds in it and it will give you a barnyard instead of a lawn if you use it fresh. To measure how much soil you might need to improve the ground there....measure the area...if it was a round pool, simple measure across the diameter, divide by 2...gives you the radius and then use the old standby...pi R squared. pi meaning 3.1428...X R..radius X itself. example: if the pool was 24' across...half is 12'...X 12 X pi....3.14 X 12 X 12...= approx 450 sq feet. If you were to put down 4" of topsoil or compost you would then multiply the square footage X 4 (inches) = 1800...which you multiply by 3...= 5400 and dvide by 1000...move the decimal 3 places to the left..giving you exactly 5.4 cubic yards of soil to purchase. If the pool area was less or you wish to use less soil just replace the figures but do the math the same way. If the pool was in rectangular form, just use the same method...length X width in feet, giving you square footage...times the depth of soil (in inches)...multiply by 3 and divide by 1000.... If the area is in pretty good shape, then maybe it doesn't need cultivating but can be reliably raked hard to raise furrows before putting down sod. In any case, look to the drainage so that when you grow grass it will not become a sotted mess....make sure the water rans away from the house and can easily be absorbed into the ground. The sod provider can give you instructions on what you must do to bring the sod along and don't get antsy and want to mow it too soon...its late now. sod can still be put down but let any mowing wait until spring....you mower should be just about ready to be put to bed for the winter anyway. But again SOD can still be put down even at this date.

since you hav ethe rock there, you will need to either continuously pull weeds out, or keep it sprayed with something like round up. as far as the border goes, use a weed eater next time. allow the grass to grow right up to the border, and trim it off level with the rest of the lawn instead of down to dirt. BTW, how wide of a dirt strip is it? mine is about 6 inches around my pool, but that is by design. i do not trust weeding close to the sides of the pool, so i spray a band aroudn the pool every month or so with round up. as long as it is uniform, it actually looks good.

The stone dust is probably a bigger challenge than the sand if it is there in quantity and especially if it was compacted as I suspect. Like they say, you will need lots of organic matter. If the stone dust is readily identifiable and segregated you could shovel it out and use it somewhere else or mix it more thoroughly with the sand and lots of organic matter. You might also want to do some test holes to see if there is a base of gravel ("crushed stone") and see if it is compacted as is often done. I've seen grass growing in what appears to be pure sand in Florida so I'm guessing there must be a way to make it happen. Might also want to run this by the lawn forum since grass is the ultimate goal.